Nathan Aspinall believes the challenge of silencing his doubters has fired his Unibet Premier League challenge.
The former UK Open champion and 2020 Premier League finalist had been tipped ahead of this season as a contender to be eliminated after Judgement Night following a slow start to 2020.
However, Aspinall's win over Peter Wright on Night Six moved the Stockport ace onto eight points as one of three players at the top of the Premier League table.
He also averaged over 105 for a second successive game and is unbeaten in four matches, and admits that being written off ahead of the season has become a motivation.
??????? Nathan Aspinall on top form this evening and using his doubters to motivate him to a 7-3 win over Peter Wright. The Asp feels he is playing some of the best darts of his career ??.@NathanAspi
— Unibet (@unibet) April 19, 2021
#Unibet180 | #PLDarts21 | @OfficialPDC pic.twitter.com/9PiQEkME4p
"One of my biggest things is that I love proving people wrong - people who doubt me, who think I'm not good enough," Aspinall told Unibet.
"I wanted to come here and perform and produce my best stuff, and that's what I've done.
"At the moment, everything's brilliant in my life; my missus, my kids are dead happy, bought our first house and we're doing our house up and I'm playing great darts.
"I'm on cloud nine and obviously that's reflecting in my darts."
Nathan Aspinall picks up his first @toyotires_uk Performance of the Night after a stellar display.
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 19, 2021
The Asp averaged over 105 and is up to second in the @unibet Premier League table. pic.twitter.com/Lvvr2cp0oc
Aspinall's Premier League challenge will continue on Tuesday with a clash against Masters champion Jonny Clayton as one of five ties on Night Seven in Milton Keynes.
The Unibet Premier League is broadcast through Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, RTL7 in the Netherlands, DAZN in various worldwide territories including Germany & America, as well as through the PDC's global broadcast partners and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers outside of the UK, Ireland & Netherlands.
Unibet Premier League
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
Night Seven - Tuesday April 20
Glen Durrant v Jose de Sousa
Rob Cross v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Nathan Aspinall v Jonny Clayton
Peter Wright v James Wade
Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
Best of 12 legs